Chicken Adobo Bites

July 25, 2012

Dating a Filipino dude for nearly four years means you get a lot of exposure to all kinds of yummy food. Pancit, lechon, LUMPIA (yum), ensaymada, bitsu-bitsu and more await every family gathering. I love pretty much everything I try (although I will admit I will probably never, ever try balut [don’t google it]).

Another classic Filipino dish is Adobo. Adobo is Tagalog for “amazing mixture of all my favorite flavors.” Seriously, look it up. OK, OK, don’t. But you can take my word for it, this dish is amazing. It’s one of my favorites and it’s so simple to whip up in your home.

Soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic and coconut milk make this adobo sauce so rich and complex in flavor that you will not know what hit you. It’s a delicious melange of tangy, sour, garlicky goodness.

NOTE: I am NOT touting this as the best adobo recipe out there. That is simply not true. My boyfriend’s mother’s is the best ever. This is not a paid endorsement.

In a saucepan that’s large enough to hold the chicken in one layer, mix the soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, pepper, 1 cup water, and half the coconut milk. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat.

Add the chicken chunks. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook, turning once or twice, until the chicken is almost done. This should take about 10-15 minutes.

Heat up your broiler, with the top rack about 4 inches from the heat source. Remove the chicken pieces from the liquid and place them in a heatproof baking pan. Place under the broiler and cook for 10 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway in between.

Kick the heat under the sauce back up to high, and add the remaining coconut milk. Cook until sauce has reduced and thickened a bit. Discard the bay leaves and keep the sauce warm.

Once ready, remove chicken from the oven. Serve chicken with sauce, and garnish with cilantro and pepper flakes if desired. Enjoy!

2.2.8

This recipe is a riff off of Mark Bittman’s original recipe. Weird source for a Filipino recipe, but there’s a reason it’s one of the top rated recipes in the How to Cook Everything app!

Comments

That looks so delicious and so simple! I have some chicken defrosting in our fridge and was going to grill it tonight, but I think I will swing by the grocery store on the way home tonight, pick up some rice vinegar and coconut milk and make this!

Definitely time to give in and try Filipino Adobo! I’ve seen it a couple of other places and now here and it always looks SO delicious! This looks like a very easy and tasty recipe! Thanks for sharing!

My wife grew up in Quezon City. Like you, I haven’t tried balut because I knew what it was before I visited the Philippines, however my father-in-law tricked me into eating dinuguan. Ever heard of it? Knowing what it is now, I’d go back and eat it again. Why? Because I didn’t have that mental block the first time I tasted the dish.

DB, Thank you so much for the kind words! I can’t wait to visit the Philippines at some point. And no, I hadn’t heard of dinuguan. Oh boy. Not sure I can stomach the idea (ha, ha) now that I know what it is… I wish I was less of a squeamish eater! You’re so right about not having the mental block though- sometimes you just need to be told it’s “chicken”. 🙂 Thank you for stopping by!

Mixed reviews from my family who are generally very receptive to all my cooking efforts (I try lots of new ethnic recipes). My son said he thought it was “pretty good” and ate all of his portion. My husband said it was way too salty (I used regular, not low sodium soy sauce) and it was. Should I have done something differently? I just started cooking a few months ago and always follow recipes because I don’t have the knowledge yet to experiment with changes.

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About Mallory

Welcome to Total Noms! My name is Mallory and I started this blog as part of a New Year's resolution in 2010 to write more and cook more. I love to play in the kitchen and I'm excited to share my favorite recipes and photos with you. Learn more about me and my blog.